Veritas
by Kal Ancalas
Summary: History founds itself upon truth, but who is to say what is the truth? Here lie stories of the legendary Subspace Affair, from the mouths of the very same fighters that fought within its intrigues for the sake of their world. Major SE spoilers.
1. Mario

**Veritas**

* * *

_**(June 27, 9:58 a.m: Mario Circuit)**_

_(It is a sunny, cloudless day when I arrive at the appointed time of my scheduled interview. The wind grazes my face as I take a seat underneath the fairway of the track, out of range of the wildly-speeding miniature karts. There is a groan from the crowd as a green shell collides into the back fender of one racer; I look up and see Mario, the timeless hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, smiling down at me, wearing his traditional red hat, overalls, and gloves.)_

* * *

I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long.

**Not at all; as a matter of fact, you're actually two minutes early. I'd really like to apologize for bringing you here on such short notice-**

_(Mario waves a hand carelessly, chuckling.)_

It's no trouble. It's not as if we're busy around here, you know.

**I understand that some of the Smashers weren't as willing to talk about their roles in the Subspace Affair as you were.**

Well, I suppose that's to be expected, what with all we've been through. After all, the whole mess with Subspace wasn't exactly something you could just walk out of unscathed, regardless of which side you were on. I think it affected some people more personally than others.

**In what way?**

Well, the incident certainly disillusioned us to the fact that we weren't just going to sit on our behinds all day with occasional sparring every so often. It kind of alerted us to the fact that there was something else out there, and I guess it made us all a little more paranoid in the end.

**Has it affected you deeply personally?**

Not very. At least, not a lot compared to a couple others.

**When you mentioned "which side" previously, are you saying that the Subspace incident was a completely bipolar conflict- that it was essentially a case of good versus evil?**

No- no, of course not, not by a long shot. I suppose the whole thing really isn't as cut-and-dried as it seems, despite what most of us want to believe.

It's easy to portray most of the Smashers as good and Tabuu as evil, but there's so much more to consider. For one, I'd like to think that Tabuu was a maniac, a deranged being hell-bent on dragging the world as we knew it into Subspace. It'd make it so much simpler that way. But at the same time, a part of me wants to say 'What if we misunderstood him? What if he did it simply because he thought he was doing the right thing?' Could it be that he was a member of some other race that we don't know about- forced to do it against his will, like the R.O.B's?

There are at least twenty possible reasons for this, and for each of those reasons at least twenty more further explanations. We might never know, and we probably won't.

**Can you recall when the Subspace Army first appeared?**

Yes, the morning of June 19th. It's hard to believe all this took a little over a week, but time has a funny way of doing things. I was fighting in an event scheduled at the stadium against Kirby- Peach and Zelda were scheduled afterwards, so they were there as well.

I distinctly remember shaking Kirby's hand- or flipper, if you will- after the match, when I became aware that the sky had suddenly gone dark, and all of a sudden this huge ship, the Halberd, flew over the arena. Black things started spilling out of it, falling to the ground in thick streams. It wasn't like anything any of us had ever seen.

**The Shadow Bugs.**

Yes. As soon as they touched the ground, they began to concentrate together every pace or so, gathering into bigger blobs of whatever it was they're made of. Then they formed themselves into Primids, covering the entire field.

Despite our original fears, we- Kirby, Peach, Zelda and I- got rid of them without too much trouble, and we thought it was all over, though none of us knew what on earth had just happened. Imagine, black particles raining from the sky and reforming into bipedal enemies, intent on attacking us- it's not something that happens every day. We weren't so much scared of the Primids as we were of what could possibly happen next.

Then, all of a sudden, we saw this weird thing on a flying pedestal come out of the clouds...the Ancient Minister. He was carrying a large metallic sphere with an "X" marked on it- we didn't need to ask what it was even before it split apart and started counting itself down.

I ran forward with the intent of disarming the thing before it blew us to bits, but I remember blacking out all of a sudden, like I'd been hit head-on by a charging bull. I could feel myself flying through the sky as I lost consciousness.

**Then what happened?**

Well, I can't say how long I was out for, because I had no sense of time while unconscious. To be honest, though, being turned into a trophy is no different than falling asleep. There's no pain or great discomfort, really; you can just feel yourself going stiff before you relax all of a sudden. You're blissfully aware of anything around you, unable to feel any emotions or pain until you awaken.

I remained like this for a while, until I suddenly felt a hand touch my shoulder. There was this boy standing before me. He had brown hair, a white tunic, and wings on his back. There was a bow in his hands, and he said his name was Pit.

I wasn't sure what to make of him, but I described the story of the Shadow Bugs and the Primids to him, everything that had happened. It just so turned out he'd seen the exact same thing- what were the odds that these things, whatever they were, would attack both land and air at the same time?

Not good.

At that point, we knew virtually nothing. We didn't know the identity of our enemy- just that there was someone, or something, summoning these Shadow Bugs across the world, transforming them into Primids. We didn't know anything besides that, but we knew that the people below us were in grave danger. We knew we had to get to the ground, so we had to fight our way through Skyworld.

**And you encountered other manifestations of the Shadow Bugs, besides the Primids?**

I didn't know they were composed of the Shadow Bugs themselves- remember, I was in an unfamiliar territory, and I had no reason to believe the things we saw along the way were from the same vein as the Primids. But yes, to answer your question, the other enemies we saw- the Jyks, the Bytans, the Mites, and all those other monsters with names I can't recall right now- they were all part of the Subspace Army, though we didn't find that out until later.

**You then saw the Ancient Minister.**

Correct, and he had another one of those bombs with him. I still haven't figured out how we managed to miss him. _(Laughs ruefully.)_

**There's something I'd like you to clarify.**

Go ahead.

**In Super Smash Brothers, fighters fight in a prescribed arena- but the Subspace Incident did not take place in any one arena. Instead, it was spread across the "world" of Smash Bros. as a whole- a world with a lake, a forest, a sky, and so much more. Could you possibly explain this?**

It's interesting that you should bring that up. Remember, the rules of Super Smash Brothers as you and I know them change to some extent outside the arena.

You tend to think of our environment as a universe, but in reality it is much more than that- it is actually a megaverse, a location in space where several wholly different universes converged upon one another. This is the secret of Smash Brothers- how fighters with completely different physical structures, molecular biologies, and different life stories, can duel one another.

The world that we are currently in right now is neither genuine nor fake. This Mario Circuit is a replica, so to speak, of the Mario Circuit that exists in the Mushroom Kingdom, but it is built upon a different set of rules. It is built as a battle arena, not a go-kart racing strip.

Look around you. You'll notice the track is laid differently, the item boxes and launchpads are non-existent, and the cars nothing more than autopiloted bots designed to ride the exact same lines on the track at regular intervals. It is the same with other so-called landmarks of other worlds- the Hyrule Temple, Corneria in the Lylat System. They are essentially meant to be the same, but in reality they are very different.

**You haven't completely answered my question. How do you explain the existence of different worlds outside the arenas that Smash Bros. normally takes place in?**

_(Mario rubs the back of his hand against his eyes, looking up into the clear sky.)_

I can't be completely sure. Even as a Smasher, I'm not completely familiar with this world- embarrassing, I know. I could tell you all the species of mushrooms in the Mushroom Kingdom and the species of every unit in Bowser's Koopa army, but as to this world I cannot say.

My best guess, and remember that this is only a theory, is that when two universes collide, the areas directly affected by the collision- in other words, the place where they have crashed together- become scrambled together in some way, their environments becoming fused, almost as one. Think of it this way: if a red car and green car are involved in a collision, the red car will have flecks of green paint on it and vice versa.

It's not the best comparison I can think of, but I hope you get the general idea.

Anyway, my point is that after all these universes have collided with one another at one point- the point we're standing at right now- bits and pieces of these universes must have leaked out, in a manner of speaking, and formed this entire area. For all I know, the lake, the forest, the zoo- they're all detached bits of other worlds, converged in one spot. Where exactly they came from, I don't know. What matters is that they're here.

And this may be even more farfetched, but I think this is how the principle of those bombs work- they're not actual explosives, just fragments of the universe known as Subspace. The bombs are just parts of the universe of Subspace itself, ready to consume anything within its radius- really, in effect just replacing parts of our universe with parts of another.

_(I remain silent for some time, absorbing this information as Mario chuckles.)_

Oh, don't act so surprised. You'd be surprised how much time we have on our hands between fights.

_(I nod and get up from my seat underneath the fairway. Mario's smile remains on his face as we shake hands, his grip surprisingly strong. I see him walk calmly across the track, the Shy Guy-driven karts zipping harmlessly past him, before he disappears into the other side of the stage.)_


	2. Link

_**(Ju****ne 29, 6:19 p.m: Bridge of Eldin)**_

_(Cool wind brushes the side of my face as I stand near the edge of the stone walkway, a few paces separating me and a hundred-foot fall. I run a hand through my hair and try to moisten the inside of my mouth with my tongue. As if on cue to relieve my apprehension, Link calls out from the other side of the bridge. He is dressed in a blue tunic instead of his customary green, but his smile is still very much the same.)_

* * *

Take care not to slip. It's quite a fall.

**Thank you. It's an honor to meet you.**

Not at all. Frankly, I played a relatively minor role in the whole scheme of things. There are others much more deserving than I.

**Nevertheless, I would still like to get your firsthand account of what happened. I'm compiling a history of the Subspace Affair.**

A history of the Subspace Affair...

...You are Terran, are you not?

**Yes, why?**

I find it intriguing that a Terran would be interested in an event occurring in the Smash Brothers world.

**I don't think of the Subspace Affair as an isolated incident. It was only through the work of the Smashers that Tabuu was defeated. Had he succeeded, I don't believe he would stop at controlling merely the Smash Brothers galaxy.**

_(Link pauses.) _

Neither do I.

Go on. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

**When did you first encounter the Subspace Army?**

Ah, that...the incident in the forest. Yes. I remember walking through the forest by myself. I had just passed Yoshi on the way. He had been sleeping on a tree stump. I recall walking not more than ten paces before black rain began to pour through the forest canopy- the Shadow Bugs.

It seems silly now, but I recall being scared stiff of them when those bugs formed themselves into Primids. It is a natural response to fear what you do not know and consequently know nothing about which you fear. I had no way of knowing that they were relatively harmless, that this was nowhere near the worst they could get. I remember just praying I could make it out of there alive.

_(He smiles, albeit grudgingly.)_

Hero of Time, Goron's ass.

**Did you ever find out what they were?**

Not until later. After we emerged from the forest, we tried to track down the Halberd, but then we ran into Mario and Pit.

**From what I understand, you and Yoshi fought against them?**

Yes, because we saw them fighting Zelda- or at least what we thought was Zelda. It wasn't until later that we found out she was just a replica, created from those Shadow Bugs.

**So they were able to create a replica of her?**

Apparently so, although we didn't know how until we realized her trophy had been captured by Bowser, and the Shadow Bugs used that as their model. We had no way of knowing they were capable of assuming other forms, but that was something we quickly learned to consider. It was also something we learned the hard way while trying to get through the Great Maze. Having to fight thirty-something replicas...I can assure you that wasn't exactly a pleasant way to spend time.

But Mr. Game and Watch...sheesh. Using his body to create the Shadow Bugs, now that's sneaky. I can't tell if it's brilliant or creepy, or both.

**I wouldn't necessarily classify Mr. Game and Watch as an enemy. He was used by Tabuu to create the Subspace Army without his own knowledge.**

Right. He helped us after the whole mess with Duon and the Halberd, but we had no way of knowing that at the time. After the constant stream of reports of Shadow Bug and Primid manifestations, and the incident with the Shadow Clones, though, none of us wanted to take any chances. I guess it's just as well.

**What was Ganondorf's role in the entire incident?**

Nothing less than I expected. He was a sneaky bastard, I'll give him that- I heard from Samus and the others how he destroyed the entire Island by blowing up a thousand Subspace Bombs at once. Also, trying to steal control of the Subspace Army from Master Hand at the last moment and stabbing Bowser in the back. Hasn't changed a bit.

**Master Hand was never in charge of the Subspace Army, however.**

That's what it looked like at first, but I- and the others, for that matter- never knew about the existence of Tabuu until we actually saw him, knew him for what he was.

Imagine the most powerful thing you can, and then imagine something else in complete control of that thing, able to control it as if it were nothing at all. That was within the limits of Tabuu's power in addition to creating the Subspace Army, enslaving the Isle of Ancients...It was frightening, really- I know I sound like a coward here, but I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't unfazed at the idea of something else controlling Master Hand.

**You managed to stop him, though.**

I wish that were true. Makes me sound all the more heroic.

But the truth of the matter is, I alone didn't do much in the way of stopping him. I guess no one person could have definitively stopped him, though. Ganondorf and Master Hand proved that.

I said this before anything else, and I'll say it again- I wasn't the only one. There were others with much more.

**Such as?**

King Dedede, for one.

**Dedede?**

Yeah. Master Hand was forced to bring together Bowser, Ganondorf, Wario, Dedede- those with knowledge of the Smash Brothers world, those whose allegiances weren't exactly tied to the cause of the greater good. For all we know, Dedede could easily have gone the same way, a power-hungry mongrel bent on world domination.

It was his fault the Halberd was stolen in the first place, I'll admit. But Dedede truly understood the nature of the threat we were dealing with before anyone else did. He refused to be flattered or tempted by the thought of allying with Tabuu and developed the solution that ultimately allowed Luigi, Ness, and Kirby to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That's what I think.

**And Sonic? I'm interested in hearing about his role.**

He could have popped out through a black hole for all I know. You'll have to ask him yourself. Though, for the life of me, I can't figure out how he managed to get near Tabuu without getting hit by the Off Waves.

**Neither can I. Any theories?**

Search me. Maybe it's because he wasn't previously from the Smash Brothers world- perhaps he wasn't bound by the same rules we were. I can only thank the Triforce that he wasn't.

**Solid Snake wasn't a previous resident of the Smash Brothers either. How do you explain his lack of immunity?**

_(Link shrugs.)_

To be honest with you, I have no idea. But, I don't try to think too hard into it. I'm just grateful that in the end, it all worked out beautifully.

_(The sun emerges from behind a stray cloud, showering the bridge with afternoon light. It is truly beautiful, hues of orange, blue, and purple staining the sky. Link gazes upwards fondly.)_

Beautiful, huh? If it hadn't been for Dedede, or the Ancient Minister slash R.O.B, or Sonic, or the rest...it might not even have existed anymore, and we might not even have been around to see it. Imagine that.


	3. Samus Aran

_**(June 30, 3:47 p.m: Frigate Orpheon)**_

_(The cold stare of machinery greets me as I step onto the stage, my footsteps unnaturally loud against the gently oscillating platform. Frames of light dart across me as I quickly become disoriented in the stage's depth. Steadying myself, I hear a robotic noise and see Samus Aran, the intergalactic bounty hunter famous for her neverending battle against the Metroids.) _

* * *

I'm surprised you managed to find the place.

**I won't pretend getting here was easy. **

(_Samus laughs.)_ Getting here is half the fun.

Now, from what I heard, I understand you'd like to interview me for a project you're working on.

**Yes, a history of the Subspace Affair.**

_(Again, Samus laughs, but this time it is somewhat caustic.)_

A history of the Subspace War? Who the hell'd be interested in something like _that?_ If you know the Subspace War like I did, you'd wet yourself and scream holy hell before running off in the opposite direction. Trust me. It's not something anyone needs to know about.

**Regardless, it is a part of history that needs to be chronicled. Do we leave out the countless genocides and crimes against life from our history books just because no one wants to remember them? **

Slow down, tiger. Don't get all philosophical with me unless you want to find out firsthand just how much I've fine-tuned my arm cannons this morning.

On the other hand, I wouldn't classify the Subspace War as a genocide or a crime against life, far from it. In fact, compared to some of the things you Terrans have gotten up to, this was a joke. No one died, or was murdered, or got dismembered for some freak-ass biological weapon project. It was just an unfortunate happening.

**Unfortunate happening? You said yourself that if I knew the Subspace War like you did-**

That doesn't mean I want to relive it every night. There are plenty of things in this universe worse than death. You Terrans get it off easy.

**Do you think the Subspace Affair could have become a full-blown crime against life of sorts if things hadn't turned out the way they had?**

I doubt it, unless you want to call the extinction of thirty-something Smashers a crime against life. We aren't the only things in the megaverse, you know.

**But it's entirely possible that Tabuu could possibly have used Subspace Bombs to threaten areas outside of the Smash Brothers universe and endanger the lives of those living in those areas, if he hadn't been stopped.**

Maybe. It's not something I try to think about at night.

**You continuously refer to the event as the 'Subspace War', even though others refer to it as the 'Subspace Affair'. Can you explain?**

All right, first of all, I don't give a Chozo's ass about whether you call it the Subspace Affair, Incident, or whatever. You can call it the Subspace Ballet Dance for all I care.

I grew up in a world where every battle was a war, where every second put you in fear of your life. This wasn't any different. There were real enemies, things that wouldn't hesitate at dragging you down.

_(She purses her lips in distaste, a gesture I can see despite her helmet.)_

Bowser. Ganondorf. Wario. Ridley. Assholes like those. Those were the enemy. Those were what we faced.

**And Tabuu? Do you consider him a member of the opposite side as well?**

Tabuu. Heh. Don't even get me started on that blue freak. For all I care, he's some intergalactic anomaly whose mission was to cover everything with Subspace Bombs.

Some say that he was misunderstood, that he might have just been doing this for the sake of others. Well, I say screw that. I'm not a compassionate person, never have been and never will be, no matter how much I, or others, tell me otherwise.

Take it from me. You can't show compassion when others haven't shown you any. It just doesn't work that way.

_(She scowls behind her helmet, her eyes narrowing)_

**So what was your role in the Subspace Affair- so to speak?**

If I'd had my way, it would have been nil.

I had been in the area because I didn't have my Power Suit on at the time, which is kind of inconvenient since surviving for more than five minutes is difficult without it. Anyway, there was this island base with some sort of laboratory built on it. I decided to scope out the area; perhaps see if I could recover the suit in one piece.

**Did you have a fight scheduled? I'd assume that your Power Suit would regenerate itself before a fight regardless of whether it was on or not.**

Perhaps you don't understand that the rules inside an arena are different than the outside. Hasn't anyone told you that?

**But...**

Look, it's as simple as this. I can take off my Power Suit and jump in the lava on the bottom of the Norfair stage, and five minutes later I'll be walking out of the arena without so much as a scorch mark. But outside the arena, it doesn't work like that. If you lose something outside the fight- it usually stays lost.

**Does that mean...that you could possibly die outside the arena?**

Not necessarily. There were times between fights where I got bored and went outside the arena to scout. You know, do a little reconnaissance, that sort of thing- it's critical if you're in the bounty hunter business.

In the arena, you can't feel pain, even if someone smacks you five times in a row with a hammer or something. But...outside of it, you can feel pain. You can bleed.

Let me put it this way. On one of my little trips, I found myself climbing a mountain- a huge mountain, with ice slopes and all that fun crap- and I slipped halfway up. I must have bashed myself on at least ten rocks before hitting bottom.

To be completely in mind-blowing pain, your body mangled and broken, but not yet dead- frankly, that's one of the creepiest things you can possibly imagine. I could taste my own blood, feel my bones shifting as I moved. But somehow, I wasn't dying. I felt like I was hanging from a thread, so close but not quite. It was a while before I found the strength to walk again, but I still lived.

My guess is that some of the rules that apply in the arena stretch out to the outside world or something, I don't know. I mean, we're Smashers. We don't know as much about this place as we'd like. Hell, we didn't even know what our own world was made of before Subspace started coming in.

**If I exist in this world, then I can't die as well?**

_(Samus levels her arm cannon at me.)_

Want to find out?

**Never mind. Can you return to the Subspace Affair?**

Right. I was scoping out the island without a Power Suit, and there were just a lot of R.O.B sentries around, firing lasers at me nonstop. Not that they were hard to deal with, though.

Anyway, I broke into this room and there was this little yellow thing floating in a green tank. I could see that whoever was behind this had attached wires to its cheeks, and electricity was flowing through said wires. Either they were trying to barbecue it, or they were using it as a power source.

**Pikachu.**

Yeah, that was its name. I could never figure out why it kept making those goddamn "pika-pi" noises.

**Then what happened?**

Well, to make a really long story short, I guess we just blew up a lot of R.O.B's...and then we got the Power Suit. Or rather, I should say _retrieved_ the Power Suit. It was being guarded by a couple of replicas.

**Replicas of the Power Suit?**

You've done your homework.

I didn't find out about the existence of the Shadow Bugs until later, but that's what they were. That certainly explained why they were a dark purple color, for one thing.

Anyway, soon after that, Ridley decided to swoop in and have a cup of tea- so I tried giving him a taste of galvanized plasma. (_She shrugs ruefully.) _Bad idea.

_(Samus gazes up into the endless ceiling of Frigate Orpheon.)_

You ever find out what it feels like to ride the edge of a wall at 40 meters per second?

_(I shake my head.)_

So the rat-thing, Pikachu, essentially saved my life...called down this huge bolt of lightning and fried Ridley's purple ass right down the middle. After that...well, it's a long story. I don't want to bore you, honestly.

Then we saw R.O.B's carrying these huge metal spheres with 'X's on them...well, as they say, curiosity killed the cat.

**The**** building you infiltrated was the Subspace Bomb Factory.**

Right. I'd never seen a Subspace Bomb before that moment, but it's a universal fact that whenever you see a machine with a timer going down, it's usually not a good thing.

And as if that weren't bad enough, there were literally hundreds of Subspace Bombs in that factory, all ready to activate on a hair-trigger. You think one going off is bad, try a thousand. Two thousand R.O.B's, lined up to deliver the final blow right in front of Ganondorf's disgusting face.

I don't care what others say about Ganondorf, that he reformed, that he saw the light- all I know is he tried to kill everyone in that room when he ordered the bombs detonated, and for all I knew he might possibly have succeeded.

We- and by we I mean me, Pikachu, Captains Falcon and Olimar, and the two monkeys, were practically pissing ourselves trying to disarm the bombs, although I guess it was futile- I mean there were a thousand bombs in there. You try disarming just one.

But the Ancient Minister tried to override the command.

He was a R.O.B, a machine. Machines don't disobey orders. They are created to serve, to do what they are told and nothing more. They're tangled nets of wires connected to a motherboard, transmitting electrical signals behind the facade of a plastic casing.

Robots can't feel emotion.

_(She kneels, touching the stage.)_

The Ancient Minister tried to save them, hundreds of R.O.B's, created for nothing more than the purpose to serve another...

A machine trying to stop other machines from being destroyed needlessly...trying to save them from a fate they never deserved...

_(Samus does not continue. Her body shivers slightly as she kneels, apparently unaware of my presence. _

_It is unclear whether she is crying or not.)_


	4. Fox McCloud

_**(July 1, 8:35 a.m: The Lakeshore)**_

* * *

___(Thin creeper vines and thorn bushes give way to a serene spread of crystal-blue water, shining like sapphire in the morning sun. A thin sandbar surrounds the sides of the lake, where Fox McCloud, eponymous leader of the legendary Star Fox team of Corneria, sits at the exact_ _location where his Arwing crashed approximately eleven days ago. Although he acknowledges my presence with a nod, he does not turn in my direction, continuing to stare over the water.)_

* * *

In the Lylat System, Terrans are famous- or infamous, I should say- for their hypocrisy. Humans paint themselves as the ultimately supreme, intelligent beings in the universe, other than terminally idiotic science fiction that'd make even Slippy cry. Where you come from, cats, dogs, and the like are relegated to the status of food and trite companionship- yet just a few thousand light years away, said cats and dogs have mastered the secrets of warp propulsion, artificial intelligence, and the like. A Cornerian pocket calculator has more circuits and functions in it than all the electronics companies in your city of Tokyo.

Then again, the whole reason your planet still exists is because of your merciful naivete. When I think about the things Andross did, what he could have done...

_(He falls silent, sucking in his breath sharply as his eyes stare unblinkingly over the horizon.)_

But never mind that. You're here for all the shit that went on in Subspace.

**Essentially, yes. **

_(Fox gives me a half-appraising, half-skeptical look.)_

Fire away.

**What is your overall view of the Subspace Affair- has it affected you in any way?**

Subspace Affair. Heh. I've heard the others call it many things, but never that before. You make the whole thing sound like some kind of political scandal, like something you'd see on a late-night talk show which only the elderly, the demented, and the celibate watch. In other words, Peppy.

But ironically, I guess that's what this whole thing has been for me in a way- just another scandal. It's interesting to live at first, but after a while, it fades away, just another memory in the whole mess of gray matter up there.

It's been a hell of a great adventure, but that's all it really is in the end.

**So, you mean to say that you've been completely unfazed by the whole incident? **

Of course not. I'll still get nightmares every so often about huge translucent blue guys with wings, but hey. Happens to the best of us. Nothing like a little PTSD to lighten up your day, you know?

_(Although I say nothing, my skeptical expression reveals my thoughts. Fox pauses, his roguish expression fading somewhat, before beginning to speak again.)_

Look, I'm not saying this was a minor incident, even though I know it sounds that way. We- I mean, all Smashers as a whole- agreed that the whole thing could have been a lot worse than it had been, and it was fortunate that we managed to stop it. But, you know, I guess I'm immune to that sort of stuff by now.

My whole life has been one death-defying adventure after another. Why should this be any different?

**But others...Mario, Link, Samus...**

_(Fox scoffs, trailing a line in the sand with his index finger.)_

Let them have their therapy group. I won't pretend everyone got off from this perfectly normal, but it was inevitable that some people would be shaken more so than others.

One consequence of the existence of the Smash Brothers universe is the fact that people from vastly different worlds are going to come in contact with another, unable to explain their stories to one another. Even though we try to communicate, to be a brotherly group of motley fighters, there's a part of us all that says this is all bull. We're all different, and we know it.

Look at some of these guys- Mario, Kirby, the Kongs- these are people that have grown up believing that the greatest threat in the known world are walking mushrooms, turtles, penguins, and crocodiles. Their universes are like giant G-rated films, never once showing the blood, the pain, the tears that can happen.

My father wasn't a plumber or a walking monkey or a bulimic piece of cotton candy with eyes. He was a member of one of the most elite fighting teams in the Lylat System, vowing to fight Andross to the end no matter what, and every day, he ran the risk of never being able to see another sunrise, never being able to tell his friends, his family how much he cared for them.

I'll never forget the day he died, the day Andross fucking blew up his Arwing with a remote detonator like a coward instead of facing him like a real man. The explosive was in the rear wells of the jet and it took out everything except the cockpit itself. My dad was trapped in there, burning as the flames slowly took him, unable to gain the honorable, quick death he deserved.

And as I saw what was left of him lying in the casket, I knew that I wasn't the only one, asking what kind of horrible person could do this to the man I loved. The Lylat Wars were a true bloodbath, something not even your Terran conflicts in Europe or Vietnam or the Middle East could hope to compare to. Everyone in Corneria- and I mean practically everyone- either had a parent, a sibling, and/or a child killed or permanently wounded, or knew somebody who had, because of the insanity of one madman.

I went down the same road my father took, knowing I could end up joining him at any moment. And you know what? I don't give a damn.

Smash Brothers makes a mockery out of death, out of glory. We fight and fight until we can't fight any more, and then all we do is turn into trophies and go to sleep until we can fight another day. The Subspace incident was the only remotely interesting thing worth fighting for that ever happened in this universe, and I still didn't get a damn thing out of it.

It doesn't matter when you get there, because everyone dies in the end. What really matters is _how _you get there. How do you explain that to people who have never tasted blood, who have never seen another die in their own lives?

_(He scowls, making an obscene hand gesture at his reflection in the water.)_

Call me whatever you want- harsh, uncaring- but the Subspace Affair was smoke in the water. To people like me, that's their day job.

_(A terse silence hangs between us for a few seconds.)_

**What was your role in the entire affair?**

You can ask Diddy Kong. If it hadn't been for him, I might never have gotten involved in the first place...although, on second thought, I guess that's BS. I mean, this entire mess was bound to get everyone involved, regardless of whether they wanted to or not.

Anyway, it started when I was flying my Arwing over this lake and all of a sudden this huge green sea serpent comes out of the water and blasts the hell out of my engines...and next thing I know, I'm wrestling with the controls wondering how much pain I'm going to be in when I hit the ground.

**You weren't worried about dying?**

_(Fox laughs.) _

Of course not. For starters, I wasn't at a particularly high altitude- in this universe, you'd have to be at least a half-mile up to actually have some bones broken or whatnot. Even if the Arwing exploded, which it did, I knew the blast would be nothing compared to if it had blown up over Corneria. Physics works differently in this world, you know. I also managed to activate my Reflector on impact, so I managed to stop flaming shrapnel going into my face. Of course, I was a little shaken up, but everything was still pretty much in working order. Overall, it was really nothing more than being hit with a Bob-omb in the arena.

So, anyway, I did what any hero would have done in this situation- I saved the monkey. Then, of course, we had to fight Rayquaza, which I'll kind of admit was the first big thrill I had in months. Once that had been taken care of, I was going to leave, find my way back to the arena on foot, but the little shit dragged me back into the jungle to find Big Brother.

**You then encountered Bowser?**

A clone of him, although I couldn't really tell; he's ugly as hell either way. I only figured out it was a copy after the real Bowser came out with his Dark Cannon and fired the damn thing point-blank at us.

**And then what happened?**

Let's just say I learned something from watching your Terran "Indiana Jones" movies. I should be thankful that conventional laws of inertia and force of impact don't apply in this world, otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you now.

We were starting to see more of the Subspace Army at this time, so it was a logical guess that the Shadow Bugs we saw earlier seemed to make up the various monsters...and then, of course, we saw Bowser again. Lovely guy, creating a thirty-foot scale replica of Diddy for us to play with. I think we'd have been pretty screwed if Falco hadn't shown up. Blew up the Dark Cannon, kicked Evil Diddy's ass, called in the Great Fox...that's Falco for you._ (A faint smile crosses his face.)_

Of course, that was nothing compared to what happened on the Halberd.

**You flew up to the Halberd?**

Right. We flew up using the Great Fox, and luckily there happened to be an extra couple Arwings in the hold. So I get into one and start firing at the Halberd, all the while missing death by inches...then all of a sudden this crazy ninja-bitch lands on the damn windshield and _punches a fucking hole right through the glass!_

_(He laughs, somewhat bitterly.)_

I've really got to buy insurance for those things someday.

And the rest, you know, was a blur, going into Subspace itself, fighting through that damn maze, and kicking Tabuu's butt back into Subspace, so everyone lived happily ever after.

It sounds weird, but I wish I could have taken a photograph, or something, while I was in there. Granted, Subspace isn't exactly the sort of place you'd want to go for your summer vacation, but still...it's pretty amazing, in its own way. You don't see places like that every day- and we might not see this one for a long time.

_(His gaze flickers strangely over the water's surface.)_

**There's one last thing I'd like to ask. Why did you decide to conduct the interview here, outside the arena?**

Not for fresh air, I'll tell you that much.

I wish it were true that with Tabuu's destruction, the world as we know it would have returned completely to normal, but...

_(His eyes do not leave the surface of the lake.)_

**...Rayquaza?**

No, it hasn't reappeared since I first saw it, but something else has.

**What do you mean?**

Look at the center of the lake.

_(I follow his instructions and stand up, gazing directly into the heart of the crystalline water. Sure enough, I can see something nestled in the bottom of the lake floor- something large and dark, of indeterminate shape. It seems alive, swelling and writhing as it glows with an oddly dark-purple aura. As if to answer my unspoken question, Fox nods.)_

Yes.

**But how? And...why? With Tabuu destroyed-**

Just because Tabuu's been destroyed, doesn't mean Subspace is gone from us forever.

**Does this mean...the Subspace Incident may repeat itself someday?**

Only one can answer that, and I stopped believing in him the day my father died.

_(The surface of the lake begins to shift as something emerges from it, its silhouette dark against the sun. It is a Primid, its greyish body contrasting with the sharp crimson of its pupil-less eyes. Slowly, like a reanimated corpse, it turns and begins to walk towards us. Fox draws and raises his weapon, a Cornerian standard-issue automatic laser pistol, and casually fires three blasts through the creature's head.)_


	5. Bowser

_**(July 5, 7:06 p.m: The Ruined Zoo)**_

_(Although the sun still barely hangs over the distant horizon, the desolate atmosphere of the zoo makes me feel as though it is already midnight. A cold chill sweeps over the abandoned grounds, halving my body temperature and lending a sinister air to the already-bleak landscape. Almost as if to complete the scene, I look up to see Bowser, the King of the Koopas leaning against an abandoned cage some yards away. A black cloak is wrapped around his large back and front, ostensibly to keep out the cold. We remain silent for some time, eyeing each other, until Bowser finally speaks.)_

* * *

I didn't think you would come.

**That's not the first time I've been told that, you know.**

_(Bowser shrugs, crossing his muscular arms.)_

If you keep going on like this, it won't be the last either.

_(I remain silent, not knowing how exactly to respond.)_

So, a history of the so-called Subspace War. Brilliant. Do you Terrans really have that much time on your hands?

**I'll ask the questions here, if you don't mind.**

_(Bowser gives a stiff chuckle.)_

You certainly have guts. Well, ask away. I'm not going to get any younger standing here.

**You knew about the Subspace Affair before it ever started. You, as well as Ganondorf, Wario, and Dedede had been contacted by Master Hand on Tabuu's orders.**

First of all, that's not a question.

Second of all, I don't see why I have to be standing out here freezing my ass off telling you something you already know.

_(My ears turn red, but not from the cold.)_

**...Why? What did those orders entail?**

_(Bowser closes his eyes and leans against the steel-mesh fence behind him, its rusted links groaning slightly against his weight.)_

Nothing pleasant, I assure you. We had simply been told that we were to eliminate any identity that might be construed as a threat to the "stability of the current environment". In truth, we all knew who that meant- our fellow Smashers. We weren't stupid, and we weren't pretending to be.

**You took orders from Master Hand knowing he himself would never have given such an order to eliminate Smashers like that. How do you justify this?**

Like I said, I wasn't stupid. I wasn't about to have some sort of inner debate with myself about what Master Hand's own motives were. I knew there weren't any.

Obviously, If Master Hand didn't give those orders, someone or something else did. And for that someone or something to be able to force a being so powerful, so omnipresent as Master Hand to give such directions, such clear-cut, macabre, instructions whose purpose was explicitly clear...

I wasn't about to screw with that, not for all the kingdoms in the world. If someone out there had the power to control Master Hand, you better believe I wasn't about to get on that guy's bad side.

**Self-preservation. Was that really necessary? You knew perfectly well that whoever issued such an order would have no qualms about turning on you after the elimination of the other Smashers was complete. You knew, in the end, you were digging your own grave.**

Perhaps. I never really saw it that way, though I kind of knew in the back of my head that such an outcome would be inevitable. I mean, if I were given a choice between maintaining a minor alliance or seizing more power at the expense of said alliance, you don't need a fortune-teller to guess what I'd choose. Like minds think alike.

Maybe, in the end, I knew I might get screwed no matter what. But for one moment, I wanted to believe I was safe, surrounded by the bastions of my own false hope. To end up on the winning side- isn't that everyone's dream?

**Why did you join them?**

_(Bowser scoffs, a sudden gust of hot, fetid air blowing across my face.)_

Is that question really necessary? You only need to look at me, see what I've done, to answer that. Do I look like some sort of hero to you, the sort of guy who would raise a sword against any threat to defend his loved ones no matter what? I don't exactly exude valor and rainbows, you know.

Evil and good. Darkness and light. Yin and yang. No matter how many times you rephrase it or how many times you flip the coin, I'll always end up on the negative side. It's how I've always been. It's how I always will be.

**You didn't have to go that way. You had a choice.**

You Terrans are much too idealistic for your own good.

Put yourself in my situation for a second- a situation where you have just been contacted by a supremely powerful being who can only be controlled by another supremely powerful being, both of which could wipe you out of existence without so much as a heartbeat. Does one truly have a choice under those circumstances?

**It would still have been the right thing to do.**

Right. Don't use that word around me. _Right. _Can you define that word? A definition of morality, a measure of good, of what is naturally correct?

Ever since I was born, I have been doing things that certainly wouldn't be classified as "right", at least under your definitions. But to me, I did them because I never had a sense of morality in the first place. Imagine living when right is wrong and wrong is right, and no one ever tells you the difference.

Heaven knows I've tried. Do you think I've gone as far as I have without questioning, just once, whether what I've been doing is "right"? Is there anything remotely "right" about kidnapping a princess and seizing forcible control of her lands by any means necessary?

I will never know when I lost my ability to judge between right or wrong, or whether Fate never gave it to me in the first place.

_(Bowser sucks in his breath, letting it go in a low hiss. Vapor swirls out from his nostrils.)_

Guilt is our fail-safe, our means or protecting ourselves from our own ignorance. When we do something we know is wrong, there is a thing called guilt that lets us know we did wrong. Guilt makes us feel bad, digs at our hearts, appeals to our emotions, so that we never do such a thing again.

What do you do when there is no guilt? When the charges are there, but not the repercussions? When there is nothing stopping you, holding you back?

What do you do when wrong eventually becomes right?

**I won't try to speak for you or your decisions. But you know you had to fight Tabuu anyway, in the end.**

Of course I did. When I saw that it was my only hope for survival, I did what I had to do. Even if it meant joining forces with that damned Mario, I was still willing to do it after I'd seen the end of the line.

It is amazing the things one will do when faced with the ultimatum of death. It is at once our greatest strength and our greatest weakness, allowing us to achieve the impossible while at the same time preventing us from avoiding it.

In the end, everything I did, I did for myself. Whether it was accepting Tabuu's terms or fighting against him, I did it knowing that it was all I could to ensure my own survival.

**Dedede faced the same choices you had to make. He, too, had confronted the possibility of death and the realization of the threat to the world around him. Yet you chose one path, and he chose the other.**

_(Bowser opens his eyes at last, deliberately avoiding my gaze.)_

Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is?

_(I don't answer.)_

Sometimes, we spend so much time trying to hold on to life that we forget to question why we're doing it in the first place.

Like you, I don't know the answer. And I doubt I ever will, because I certainly have no intention of finding out. Call me narrow-minded, weak, selfish, whatever you will. Heaven knows I deserve worse. But for now, I've decided to live with the fact that there are certainly better things than dying to do.

_(Once more, an uneasy silence falls between us, which is broken this time by me.)_

**Have you heard that Subspace has returned?**

I know perfectly well what's happening at the lake, if that's what you're asking.

**Will you choose a different path this time?**

_(Hearing the sound of footsteps, I realize first that the sky has grown completely pitch-dark, and second that Bowser is no longer standing next to me.)_


End file.
